Welcome to New York

After our late night last night, I slept in a little bit. Alison did not have that luxury because she had to get up and go to work. When I woke up I packed all of our stuff, grabbed breakfast, and headed into the city. It was quite the ordeal. I would never stay on Staten Island again. It worked well for this trip because Alison is working there, but it was too much work to get to Manhattan. Staten Island does not have good transportation and the cabs are really weird. Then there is the fact that the ferry only leaves every 30 minutes (except during rush hour when it leaves every 15-20 minutes). Alison and I both had the misfortune of missing the ferry by just a couple of minutes this trip, which meant we had to wait 30 minutes for the next ferry plus the 25-minute ride over to Manhattan. It is totally worth it to stay in Manhattan and as of today, we are. I did enjoy some beautiful views of the city during my ferry ride. The views were even better during the day than they were at night.




Once I was back in Manhattan I dropped off our luggage at the hotel. We are staying at the World Center Hotel, which is right by ground zero and the new One World Trade Center. We are excited to be staying in this area and we got a pretty good deal. The hotel room is pretty small, but it is nice and they have free water bottles, which is a great perk.

After our accommodations were taken care of I was ready to run all over the city. I wanted to go to some of the places I had never been to before. My first stop was Grant's tomb. Alison and I have talked about going there before, but it is so far away from almost everything else we never made it. Since Alison was busy working I had all the time in the world. I had a few choices about what route to take. I could have taken a local subway train and it would have gotten me within two blocks, but I would have had to wait through a lot of stops, or I could take an express train that would have a few stops but would get me a few blocks further away. I wanted to hurry so I took the express option. This meant I got to take a jaunt through Harlem. It was fun to explore parts of New York we normally don't see during our vacations. Grant's tomb is right near the Hudson River. It is pretty impressive because of its massive size. It is the largest mausoleum in the United States. Both Grant and his wife Julia are laid to rest there in these large red granite coffins. Although they are not buried because they are entombed above ground, which is the punchline of the old joke, "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?" You can go right inside and walk downstairs right up to the coffins. All around the coffins are busts of Grant's most trusted generals. There is also a really interested painting of Lee and Grant shaking hands at the top of the tomb. I gained a great appreciation for the great respect President Grant earned from both the North and the South. He was more loved as a General and a President than I ever realized. He was also a pretty simple man who loved peace. On the outside of the tomb, the only words read, "Let us have peace." It is a fitting tribute to a man who worked so hard to bring peace to America.






My next stop was Columbia University, which happens to be right by Grant's tomb. On my way over I was really hungry. I was hoping to run into a pizza place, but I was having no luck. Instead, I stopped at a food truck and got some halal food. I love it. I got chicken, lamb, rice, and lettuce covered in a delicious sauce. It is so good.

Columbia is has a really pretty campus. The setup is a little confusing and there are a lot of areas that are off-limits to the public. It was kind of like Stanford in that way. I am such a big fan of getting a quality education and I like to visit the great learning institutions in America. I stopped by the Columbia bookstore and got a gift for our niece. Alison is usually in charge of getting gifts while we are on vacation, but on this trip I am.



After Columbia, I headed back down to Grand Central. Yesterday when I ate at Shake Shack I didn't get a shake. Alison thought that was a crime. So today I stopped and got a shake. It was pretty good. I left Grand Central and headed over to the New York City Public Library. I have always thought I should go there and today I did. The path I took from Grand Central to the library was called library walk. It was cool because all along the way there were quotes from books inscribed on the sidewalk. I did my best to read them as I walked, but some of them were kind of long.  Here is one I really liked:

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I chose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that's all.”

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)
Through the Looking Glass: And What Alice Found There

The library itself was really amazing. It is more of a museum today than an actual library. There were a lot of interesting places inside the library. One room had an amazing painting on the ceiling. That room also contained a Gutenberg Bible. It was really incredible to see. A few exhibits were going on in the library. I walked through one called "In the Public Eye." It was a photography exhibit all about the history of photography in New York.




At this point, Alison was done with work and I picked her up at the ferry. I was so glad that we were done with the Staten Island Ferry. We ran back to our hotel to change and then headed up to the big ballpark in the Bronx. We got there right near the game time and to our dismay, there were huge lines outside the stadium. This year the Yankees increased security so to get in the stadium you have to go through a metal detector. The lines were seriously unreal - like stretching halfway around the stadium. Fortunately, they went much quicker than we expected so we didn't miss too much of the game. Once we were in we grabbed some dinner and headed to our seats. On our way to our seats, we found one of Alison's favorite things - a Yankee Mickey Mouse. She liked to say it was her favorite thing in her favorite place with her favorite guy.



We sat on the 300 level of the stadium on the third-base side. We actually got the seats for free because we were members of Yankees Universe - a Yankees fan club. I join every year and every single year it comes through in a big way. Whether it is giving us access to pre-sales (like for Jeter's last game) or free tickets. We really didn't think we would make it to New York this year so we thought we would not use the free tickets, but little did we know we could not stay away. Even when we do not know how when we sign up it ends up being worth it every year.

The game was awesome. The Yankees were playing the Mariners. We really don't like the Mariners. In fact, we often say we want them to lose every game. Last year they signed ex-Yankee Robinson Cano to a giant (really stupid) contract. Since then he hasn't lived up to it. Every time he came to the plate he got booed and we joined in. He had a terrible night much to our delight. Our ace Masahiro Tanaka was on the mound. He wasn't particularly sharp and gave up three runs over 7 innings. He really battled to keep the Yankees in the game. The Bronx Bombers came through. Chris Young started off the show with a long home run. Arod (who we cheered each time he came to the plate) took a pitch deep later in the game to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. The Yankees closed down the game by going to the tandem of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. Both pitchers were dominating. It was such a fun game. Listening to "New York, New York" as you exit the stadium is one of the best sounds in the whole world.




It was strange being in New York today without Alison, but her work trip really made it possible for us to be here this weekend. Coming to New York was really a no-brainer. It has been an incredible weekend. Everything has come together. Even the weather has been perfect. It was in the '70s all day, which was super comfortable for New York. I am so excited for the rest of our adventures this weekend.

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